VCS County Court Letter for Liverpool Airport parking fine from 2018!

antpro26

Evening all, 

I am hoping for some help as I have spent the past 6 hours perusing the various threads including the entire newbies post but I feel I have just confused myself further! 

I have received a county court letter from VCS on behalf of ELMS Legal. I have ignored all previous letters on the recommendations of this forum, but from what I can gather this now requires a response. 

I had planned to contact them directly using the template for when gales charges have been added (however I am not convinced if charges have been added as there is only the amount claimed, court fee and legal costs - total £245). 

I appreciate there may well be the answer in one of the forums, however having searched for hours I'm now desperate for absolutely any help as I don't want to miss any deadlines. The letter was issued on 9th November, and I have also register for MCOL but haven't submitted anytbint as yet, again following the guidance of these forums.

Again, any help is genuinely greatly received and would appreciate the help and advice as this is an added stress on top of a lot of things we have going on at the moment unfortunately. 

Thanks in advance, Anthony. 

Fruitcake

It is not a fine.
The advice to ignore a parking charge has not been given here since the law changed in 2012. 
Anything over £175 are fake add on charges.

You need to get stuck into the guide to court written by bargepole that you find in the second post of the NEWBIES. Read other VCS JLA threads plus other airport threads.

The claim will have been from Elms on behalf of VCS, not the other way round.

It appears that you might have done the AoS too early, but you will only have lost a few days by doing so. If you haven't done the AoS yet, then don't do it until after five days to get the maximum time to work on your defence.
Use the template defence you will find in the sticky Announcements, and amend paragraphs 2 and 3. Please only show us the parts you have changed.

The defence goes via email. Do not put anything in the MCOL Defence box.

Send an SAR to VCS asap. You probably won't get a response before you need to submit your defence, but it will be useful when you get to the WS/Exhibits stage.

antpro26

Thank you for the prompt response - I haven't submitted anything yet, just logged in using the password provided. I will draft a template tomorrow and post on here if anyone could be kind enough to to offer feedback.

Does this get sent directly to ELMS who are acting on behalf of VCS, as you rightly correctly me? 

Thanks, Anthony. 

Fruitcake

Read the guide to court. It answers all if not most of your questions.

Please re-reread my post as I have amended it.

Coupon-mad

The court claim form tells you who gets the documents.  You use email for everything and obviously the defence goes to the CCBC, as the court claim tells you.

antpro26

OK thank you, I will go through in more detail tomorrow. Just to put my wife at ease as it is her who is worrying, this is fairly common and easy enough to resolve if I follow the guidance and seek the advice of the forum? She was all for just paying the entire sum about 7 hours ago 🙄

Coupon-mad

What's the date of issue of the claim form?

We do these every day and have won 99% on average, since 2016.  And unless you get a clueless Judge (and they are phone hearings these days, nothing scary) you'd almost NEVER pay the whole sum, not even if you lose.  And no CCJ risk with our advice.

Redx

antpro26 said:

OK thank you, I will go through in more detail tomorrow. Just to put my wife at ease as it is her who is worrying, this is fairly common and easy enough to resolve if I follow the guidance and seek the advice of the forum? She was all for just paying the entire sum about 7 hours ago 🙄

Who is the defendant ? ( The Keeper ? ) You or Mrs antpro26 ? Either you received the court claim pack from the CCBC in Northampton , or she did

If she is the defendant , you must not do anything at all , but can assist her

The defendant does the AOS 5 or more days after the issue date , what is the issue date ?

The defendant emails a SAR to the DPO at VCS attaching a copy of the claim form as proof of I D under the GDPR law to obtain all their data

The defendant will email the defence to the ccbcaq email address after signing it

So if you are not the defendant , you can only assist her , everything is in her name

However , if you are the defendant , the keeper , carry on , you would do the AOS online , you would email the SAR etc

Clarity is what is required here, and post the issue date below

D_P_Dance

I am not convinced if charges have been added as there is only the amount claimed, court fee and legal costs - total £245). 

I can assure you that they have, a claim shouuld not exceed £200 for one ticket.  Read this and complain to your MP,

They have added what appears to be an extra unlawful amount for debt collection. Judges have dismissed an entire claim because of this. Read this and complain to your MP.

Excel v Wilkinson

At the Bradford County Court, District Judge Claire Jackson (now HHJ Jackson, a Specialist Civil Circuit Judge) decided to hear a 'test case' a few months ago, where £60 had been added to a parking charge despite Judges up and down the country repeatedly disallowing that sum and warning parking firms not to waste court time with such spurious claims.   That case was Excel v Wilkinson: G4QZ465V, heard in July 2020 and leave to appeal was refused and that route was not pursued.  The Judge concluded that such claims are proceedings with 'an improper collateral purpose'.   This Judge - and others who have since copied her words and struck dozens of cases out in late 2020 and into 2021 - went into significant detail and concluded that parking operators (such as this Claimant) are seeking to circumvent CPR 27.14 as well as breaching the Consumer Rights Act 2015.   DJ Hickinbottom has recently struck more cases out in that court area, stating: ''I find that striking out this claim is the only appropriate manner in which the disapproval of the court can be shown''.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/16qovzulab1szem/G4QZ465V%20Excel%20v%20Wilkinson.pdf?dl=0

Also read this

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6279348/witness-statements-2-transcripts-re-parking-firms-false-costs-recorder-cohen-qc-judgment-2021/p1

antpro26

Hi, 

I'm so sorry I've only just had chance to see these replies due to ongoing personal issues I mentioned at the start! 

The letter was received on 9th November and I haven't done anything as of yet. I'm starting to panic about what I need to do and when so if anyone can offer any guidance or would be greatly appreciated.

Everything is in my wife's name and she was the driver but I'm helping her otherwise she will just simply pay the fine which I'm morally against.

I am planning to spend tomorrow getting this sorted so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again for all your help so far!

KeithP

Ten days ago you were asked...

Coupon-mad said:

What's the date of issue of the claim form?

Your latest post says...

antpro26 said:

The letter was received on 9th November...

Received is not the same as Issue Date.